How to Make Floam – The Best Floam Slime Recipe

Amaaaaazing texture! That’s what everyone has to say about our DIY Floam slime recipe. Also called crunchy slime because of the fun pooping noises, the best part about our floamy-slime or our slimy-floam is that you get to adjust the texture! We had a ton of fun experimenting with our floam, and so should you. Turn it into a cool science experiment with a homemade slime recipe.

FLOAM SLIME FOR KIDS!

Making your own homemade floam slime recipe or crunchy slime recipe is a hit with the kids, and it’s super easy too. We have used all of our basic slime recipes to make this AWESOME foam bead filled slime.

We actually had the opportunity to turn this homemade floam slime recipe science activity into an actual experiment. My son is gravitating more towards science experiments and using the scientific method lately.

HOW TO MAKE FLOAM

Watch us make it live here after we share how to use our book. In the video we use the saline solution slime recipe method.

STEP 1: Add 1/4 cup of glue to a bowl (this is a half recipe)

STEP 2: Mix in 1/4 cup of water to the glue.

STEP 3: Add food coloring and stir.

STEP 4: Add Styrofoam beads. We used a full cup, 3/4 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, and 1/4 cup measurement for our floam experiment. Stir well to incorporate the beads.

STEP 5: Mix in 1/4 cup of liquid starch to the glue/water/bead mixture.

STEP 6: Stir up your slime.

STEP 7: The slime will form instantly and you will be able to mix it all completely and grab it with your hands in under minute! Make sure to knead it and stretch it. It may be a little sticky at first, but it won’t remain that way.

STEP 8: Transfer to a dry container and wash your hands when you are finished!

SETTING UP A SLIME SCIENCE EXPERIMENT

We made each color individually and tested outdifferent ratios of styrofoam beads to slime mixture to make our own favorite floam slime recipe. Set up your own science experiment to determine which floam texture is the best.

Remember, when setting up a science experiment, you want to make sure to keep all the variables the same except for one! In this case we kept all the measurements for the homemade slime recipe the same and changed the amount of styrofoam beads added each time.

Keep a record of your results and note the characteristics of each of your slimes!

Slime is an awesome science activity and there are great concepts to learn in terms of polymers, mixtures, and molecules. You can read more below about the simple science behind the slime here.

Add your foam beads to make your floam! A good ratio is anywhere from a 1/2 cup to a full cup or slightly more depending on how you want your foam slime to feel!

Do you want it to still have a good stretch? Or do you want it to be thicker and squishy? In general, if your mix-in is light weight, you will want to use more of it! Experiment to find your favorite amount!

Time to add the liquid starch!

Liquid starch is one of our three main slime activators. It contains sodium borate which is an important part of the chemical reaction. read more about slime activators here.

Get stirring!

You will see that the slime forms immediately as you add the starch to the glue mixture. Give it a good stir and pretty much all of the liquid will be incorporated.

STORING YOUR FLOAM

I get a lot of questions regarding how I store my slime. We use a reusable container either plastic or glass. If you keep your slime clean it will last for several weeks. I also love the deli style containers, and you can check out our recommended slime supplies to see more options.

If you want to send kids home with a bit of slime from a camp, party, or classroom project, I would suggest packages of reusable containers from the dollar store. For large groups we have used condiment containers as seen here.

I highly recommend keeping it away from furniture, rugs, and kids hair! In our house slime play stays at the counter or table.

HOMEMADE SLIME SCIENCE

We always like to include a bit of homemade slime science around here. Slime really does make for an excellent chemistry demonstration and kids love it too! Mixtures, substances, polymers, cross linking, states of matter, elasticity, and viscosity are just a few of the science concepts that can be explored with homemade slime!

What’s the science behind the slime? The borate ions in the slime activators (sodium borate, borax powder, or boric acid) mix with the PVA (polyvinyl-acetate) glue and forms this cool stretchy substance. This is called cross linking!

The glue is a polymer and is made up of long, repeating, and identical strands or molecules. These molecules with flow past one another keeping the glue in a liquid state. Until…

When you add the borate ions to the mixture, it starts to connect these long strands together. They begin to tangle and mix until the substance is less like the liquid you started with and thicker and rubberier like slime!

Picture the difference between wet spaghetti and leftover spaghetti the next day. As the slime forms the tangled molecule strands are much like the clump of spaghetti!

HOMEMADE FLOAM PROJECT RESULTS

You are probably dying to know which version of our homemade floam slime recipe we had the most fun with…. Well, it was decided that a full cup of styrofoam beads is our preferred amount to add the 1/4 cup slime recipe.

Each slime was interesting and unique to explore, and it turned into a fascinating experiment and of course great sensory play too. You can even print out our slime experiment worksheet if you want to add this activity to a lesson plan.

Keep in mind the lighter the material you add to your homemade slime recipe, the more you will need of it! The denser the material, the less you will need. Makes for neat experimenting!

Has there been an update on this i have year and a half old and her brothers want to make slime but i want it to be safe. Ya know in case she gets a hold of it, oh who am i kidding i know she will. Lol thanks in advance.

[…] and glitter! But what about theme confetti like this heart slime? How about adding foam beads to make a floam slime or fishbowl beads for crunchy slime? You can also add iron oxide powder for the coolest magnetic […]